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Talofa
I trust you all had a wonderful Queen’s Birthday weekend, enjoying the extra day to travel home if you went out of Wellington. I know the teachers made good use of their day as they analysed data and prepped all the information ready to begin report writing as well as catching up on the myriad of paperwork.
It was wonderful yesterday to finally welcome formally some of our new students and their families to our St Anthony’s whānau. Definitely a sign of the times when it has taken us this long into the year but despite the number that were away sick, our tamariki performed the pōwhiri admirably to ensure that our new families felt welcomed. My thanks to Francesca for leading this occasion.
In Week 9, Tuesday through to Thursday we will have our Catholic Special Character Evaluation We welcome Zita Smith, as the lead reviewer and she will be accompanied by Tony Kelly-Smith St Patrick’s School Kilbirnie Principal. Children, Board, Staff, and Whānau are all surveyed during this time but this year the Whānau Consultation is going online so please watch out for this survey and we would welcome your input.
Beginning today and continuing over this next week, we welcome Lorraine Boennic, the Wellington City Council Waste Educator to St Anthony’s. Lorraine leads the Council's initiative to help children learn about sustainable resource use and understand their role as waste minimisers. Our tamariki will be covering issues like:-
Is that really rubbish?
Recycling and Composting
Reducing and Re-using
Resource Sustainability
And more...
So enjoy the conversations with your child/ren over the next week as they learn and develop their understanding.
Finally, FOSA is well underway with our scheduled fundraiser on Friday, July 1 and we look forward to your support of this. Please see the details below and request for support below in FOSA news.
Stay warm and well.
Denise
This week we are introducing some of our senior student leadership team. Look out for more about our other school leaders in the next newsletter.
Senior Student Leader
Hello, my name is Zoe and I am the senior student leader of St Anthony’s school. My job is to lead the student council and gather the student voice at school. I am the last of my family to go to St Anthony’s and my sister was also a senior leader. Being a student leader is a great opportunity for me to work on my leadership skills and it has helped me a lot to become more confident in leading and being a senior. St Anthony’s is also a great way to practice leadership and prepare for college, and it’s a great school to practice this with. It’s a small but strong school. This opportunity will help and guide me and the student council as we move on later in the school year. I have already had a great time in my role as student leader and hope to continue an amazing school year.
McAuley House Leader
My name is Lupita, one of the student council members and a house leader at St Anthony’s School. I lead Physical Education for the students and prepare physical activities to ensure students get the fitness they need. I’ve been setting up games or equipment during lunchtime and morning tea with the help of other student council members, Estelle, Zoe, and Mrs. Reed, the physical education teacher who leads it with me. So far this year has been a great journey to learn leadership and organisation for high school, it helps and makes high school a lot easier for the senior students. I’ve had amazing memories and experiences in this school and this is unfortunately my last year here. I’m looking forward to high school, especially to making new memories, experiences, and new opportunities.
At the moment we are participating in professional development at staff level on well-being and one of the sections in the survey was about whether we knew our personal strengths and how we used them for our personal and collective well-being. So many times we find that individuals, when asked what their strengths are cannot identify them, especially our children so I invite you to use the following piece about Pentecost to take time to reflect as a family on the gifts that Te Wairua Tapu has given to you and how you use them…
‘Pentecost is, in its own way, a second feast of Transfiguration. The disciples see things differently, and it’s not only their perception that’s new. They themselves are transformed from well-meaning but ineffective people into folks prepared to risk everything for the truth. The disciples (a term meaning “those who learn”) become apostles (“those who are sent”). As apostles of the new millennium, we’re summoned to this same new vision and sent on behalf of the same truth. Jesus transforms death into life, darkness into light. We can help the world to see its own wounds in a whole new way.
Name some places you habitually go. How might you be “sent” there as an apostle of good news?
The Holy Spirit is given to the church to bestow gifts to each for the sake of all. Pray about the gifts you possess and how to use them wisely in service of others. If you’re unsure of your gifts, ask a friend, teacher, or colleague to help you to discern them.’
Go from here as those who have joyfully celebrated the best of all birthdays. We rejoice that we are members of the Jesus family. We celebrate in the good times and care in the tough times. We meet around God’s Word for guidance and praise wholeheartedly. We are the weak who need support and the strong who can give support. We are those in the neighbourhood who need a home and those overseas who are seeking a homeland. Young and old, rich and poor, healthy and suffering, gay and straight, from the bottom of our hearts we shout: Happy birthday church! Happy birthday, church!
From GPBS (Gather Proclaim Break Send) eNews
On Wednesday we made Siapo animals to represent Samoan language week. Alex and I were partners and we had to make an animal and ours was a shark. We both did two separate squares. One was drawing designs and one was drawing the shark. I did the designs and Alex did the shark. Then we coloured it in. Our colours were blue and green. My favourite part was colouring because of mixing the colours and drawing all the different patterns. It was very fun. I enjoyed doing it and I hope I do it again next year!
- McKenzy Paese
On Friday our class, Te Awa, did a paper airplane competition. We did it for a science experiment. We had a piece of paper and it had words on it like the method. We had to write step by step how we did it and on the piece of paper it also said what we need and I wrote this “You will need a piece of paper”. When we finished writing what we will need we predicted how far our paper airplanes will go. After we finished our worksheet we went outside to fly our paper airplanes. The girls went first and Betty came first. Then the boys threw their paper airplanes and Sam came first. When we finished we did the whole class one and Colette came first and I came second. My favourite part was when the whole class threw their paper airplanes.
- Gila Crosbie
RAFFLE DONATIONS
Help!! We need your amazing donations of luxury items for our quiz night raffle being held towards the end of this term! (See details below)
If each family could donate an item or two we can make these raffle prizes really special. Think Luxury food items, toiletries, vouchers, experiences etc. Raffle to be drawn at the quiz night.
There is a raffle donation box located in the office for your items. Please bring your items in by Thursday 24th June.
Tippy Toes (adult & child) dance class at the Seatoun Village Hall 9:30-10:00am for the last four Tuesdays in Term 2 - 14th, 21st & 28th June, 5th July.The cost would be $40.00 for this Term's block of 4x classes. It's perfect timing for coming straight from school drop off!
Tippy Toes has been very popular in the past (not many activities are available for this age group) and with safety precautions in place; MVP required, sanitise on entry & exit, adults face mask-wearing and don't come if unwell, I feel that it may be nice to again offer this age group the chance to enjoying dancing with their special adult.
The children may wear anything they would like to and can move freely in. Ballet shoes are a good idea, especially in the winter but are not compulsory.
